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Traditional methods of costing wire harnesses focus primarily on the material and labor costs for manufacturing the final product. Rarely are costs related to variation-based complexity considered and when they are they tend to be simple approximations at best. In reality, the additional costs of excessive variation resulting in large part counts (unique harness level part numbers) can have a significant impact on the final cost incurred by an organization, and is often difficult to account for making it impossible for an organization to optimize their design, and everything that goes into making and delivering a finished product. It's important that these costs first be understood and modeled, and second that the designs be optimized based on this model. This paper will discuss these complexity based costs, including common sources, how they can be modeled, and methods for optimizing designs to account for these costs.

Correct-by-construction design processes can be dramatically enhanced using simulation techniques, especially early in the design process. But simulation is too often the preserve of specialist staff, who may work disconnected from day-to-day design updates. This paper highlights simulation and analysis tools that can be used by every electrical engineer, addressing topics ranging from functional verification to component sizing to failure modes and effects analysis. Furthermore, valuable results can be obtained with the simplest of models; and the models themselves can mature as the organization's use of simulation matures.

The architecture of vehicle electrical systems is changing rapidly. Electric and hybrid vehicles are driving mixed voltage systems, and cost pressures are making conductor materials like aluminum an increasingly viable competitor to copper. The challenge of assessing the impact of these technologies on vehicle safety and of understanding cost/weight trade-offs is a critical design activity. This session will discuss and demonstrate tradeoff studies at the vehicle level, show how to automatically generate an electrical Failure Mode Effects and Analysis (FMEA) report, and optimize wire sizes for both copper and aluminum at the platform level.